An Education in Devolution? Lessons in Federalism from the Elimination of the US Department of Education.
The Trump administration's ongoing effort to dismantle the US Department of Education marks the most significant federalism development in education policy in decades. Although framed as a return to local control, the restructuring relies on unilateral executive action that is fragmenting rather tha...
| Publicado en: | Publius: The Journal of Federalism Vol. 56; no. 3; pp. 690 - 711 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Oxford University Press / USA
Summer2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=195587494&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 195587494 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00485950 UBL jtl: Publius: The Journal of Federalism issn: 00485950 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Summer2026 vid: 56 iid: 3 pid: 622 pub: Oxford University Press / USA artinfo: ui: 195587494 10.1093/publius/pjag012 ppf: 690 ppct: 21 formats: tig: atl: An Education in Devolution? Lessons in Federalism from the Elimination of the US Department of Education. aug: au: Arnzen, Cameron affil: Annenberg Institute, Brown University, Providence, RI 02906, USA su: United States. Dept. of Education Trump, Donald, 1946- Education policy Intergovernmental cooperation Federal government Presidential administrations State departments of education Decentralization in government sug: subj: Education policy Intergovernmental cooperation Federal government United States. Dept. of Education Administration of Education Programs Other provincial and territorial public administration Other local, municipal and regional public administration Presidential administrations State departments of education Decentralization in government Trump, Donald, 1946- keyword: copyrightHolder:CSF Associates Inc. copyrightYear:2026 devolution education policy education politics federalism inLanguage:en publisher:Oxford University Press sameAs:https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/publius/pjag012 copyrightHolder:CSF Associates Inc. copyrightYear:2026 devolution education policy education politics federalism inLanguage:en publisher:Oxford University Press sameAs:https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/publius/pjag012 ab: The Trump administration's ongoing effort to dismantle the US Department of Education marks the most significant federalism development in education policy in decades. Although framed as a return to local control, the restructuring relies on unilateral executive action that is fragmenting rather than devolving federal authority. Drawing on the historical evolution of federal power—from ESEA's emergence of a federal role, through the accountability politics of NCLB, to ESSA's approach to devolution—this article argues that meaningful decentralization requires institutional capacity, legal clarity, and intergovernmental coordination. The elimination of ED undermines each of these foundations. By subverting Congressional authority and simply reallocating responsibilities across multiple federal agencies while eliminating thousands of expert staff through executive authority, the administration simultaneously weakens federal oversight, increases administrative burdens on states, and accelerates partisan divergence in education policy. This case illustrates the limits of executive federalism as a tool of devolution: the federal role persists, but its institutional efficiency erodes, producing fragmentation that threatens equity, coherence, and stability of American education governance. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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